The present invention relates to resealable bags, and, more particularly, to a bag of a flexible, frangible material, including a bottom, opposed spaced sides, and opposed spaced front and rear pieces terminating at the top and front and rear edges respectively, wherein tamperproof resealability is provided by a flap of the flexible, frangible material extending from the rear edge over the front edge and down along the front piece; a strip of adhesive disposed along the bottom edge of the flap to secure it to the front pieces; a piece of cording disposed between the flap and the front piece adjacent the top of the adhesive strip with at least one end extending from between the flap and the front piece sufficiently for gripping; and, a pair of strips of a hook and loop fastening system disposed between the flap and the front piece above and adjacent to the cording with one of the pair of strips adhesively attached to the flap and the other of the pair of strips adhesively attached to the front piece whereby when the cording is pulled across the flap, the flap between the pair of strips and the strip of adhesive is fractured and separated along a line close adjacent the lower edge of the strip so that thereafter the one of the pair of strips can be gripped to pull the one of the pair of strips out of attachment to the other of the pair of strips without pulling the flap apart from its adhesive attachment to the one of the pair of strips.
Resealable bags have been known in the art for years. For example, before it became popular to sell previously ground coffee in vacuum packed cans, coffee was sold as whole roasted beans in a bag such as that generally indicated as 10 in FIG. 1. The coffee bag 10 has metal tabs 12 extending outward from one side of the top. The two sides of the top were pinched together by folding the sides as at 14. the top of the bag was then rolled down so as to appear as in FIG. 2 when viewed in the direction of arrow II in FIG. 1. The metal tabs 12 were then bent around the folded-down top 16 as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. When the coffee was purchased, the metal tabs 12 were unfolded, the folded top 16 unrolled, and the beans (not shown) poured out of the bag 10 into a grinder from whence they were directed from a shoot back into the bag 10 which was then resealed in the manner described above.
More recently, the sale of "economy size" bags of pet food, and the like, has increased in popularity. Large bags of such materials open at the top are easily spilled and, therefore, there has been a corresponding desirabilty of providing a tamperproof resealable form for such bags. That is, such bags are normally sealed shut until time of use. At that time, a tear strip is removed allowing the bag to be opened. Thus, the object is to provide resealability for such sealed or tamper-proof bags.
A recent attempt at a solution to the problem is shown in FIGS. 4-6. A shown therein the bag 18 is folded over at 20 to provide abutting edges, 22, 24 adjacent the top of the bag. A zipper, generally indicated as 26, of the type having two sides 28, 30 carrying intermeshing plastic loop teeth 32 is attached to the abutting edges 22, 24 and covered with a sealing strip 34. At time of initial use, the sealing strip 34 is peeled off of the zipper 26 as indicated by the arrow 36. The zipper 26 can then be opened by pulling the tab 38 and the direction of arrow 40 in the usual manner of operation for zippers. To close the bag, the tab 38 is pulled in the direction opposite arrow 40, also in the conventional manner. With the zipper 26 in its open position, the abutting edges 22,24 can be pulled apart to provide an entrance into the bag 18 as symbolized by the arrow 42 in FIG. 6.
The use of a zipper in such applications has numerous drawbacks. The zipper 26, as is typical, is an entity comprising its two sides 28,30 and the tab 38 which must be mounted on the teeth 32 with the teeth 32 in proper meshed relationship. This, of course, adds greatly to the complexity and cost of construction of the bag 18. Moreover, as it also well known by anyone who has used zippers, any foreign material becoming lodged in the teeth 32 will prevent proper operation of the zipper 26. The tab 38 may become completely immovable. Additionally, if the zipper 26 is assumed closed, one may find that a piece of the material contained in the bag 18 has become lodged in the teeth 32 preventing proper intermeshing. Shortly thereafter, the teeth 32 will come out of engagement and the zipper 26 completely open allowing the contents of the bag 18 to spill.
Wherefore, it is the object of the present invention to provide a reclosable bag of the type described with respect to FIGS. 4-6 but eliminating the problems attendant thereto.